Automatic brake-operating device for railroad vehicles



April 20, 1937. F. MlKULKA E1 AL 2,077,848

AUTOMATIC BRAKE OPERATING DEVICE FOR RAILROAD VEHICLES Filed Oct. 25, 1934 LC L Y $3 Lifii Efi 4,

y v 9 l 85mm iv 4m.

Patented Apr. 20, 1937 NT OFFICE and Frank ,Seckar, Louka, Czechoslo- Application bctobrfia 1934, Seria l'No. 749,918 In Gnech'oslova' kia Octoberld, 1933' The object of the present invention isjtoobtain a :trainr'controlling system which is of] a' very s'imple constructionfand which will nevertheless jefiectively protect trains from, accidents I due to wrongly set points wronglydespatched" trains and even floods, 'co1lapsedbridges. .and metre.

w t object in f he investor .cori sists' essentially in combining the switch points.

or their operating levers with means for, corn necting ,an electric track contact located at th e approach to the station, to earth, through conenta i n thes ati nr-so that-u e th r is concerted. action: between the ofllcial in charge of the station and1the; man in; charge of 'the contact rail on the train which. rail,-if the contact should be earthed: causes thebrakes to be .3 applied in known manner- There are alsotrack; contacts insidethe station which insureninzther. same manner that no trainwill enter. a track-1 already occupied andthat no train will leave the station unlessthe traclg-is clear.

Fig. 1 of the -acconipan ying drawing represents a diagram of the track lay-out at one side of the station and shows the electric connections;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the electricv brake-operating device of the train;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of one of the pointoperating levers and the electric contacts operated thereby; and

Fig. 4 is a diagram 01' an additional circuit.

The track lay-out illustrated in Fig. 1 is that located at one side of a station on a single line track. The main track branches out at the station into four tracks A3, A2, A1 and A4. Out of these, the tracks A2 and A1 are arrival tracks, as indicated by the arrows, A3 is a departure track for trains leaving towards the left, and A4 is a dead track which is only used for shunting. The train is provided with an electric brake circuit comprising a battery d, a magnet s and an armature 1' which latter operates, by means of 5 a lever g, the valve of the air brake f. One end of the magnet coil is connected permanently to earth through the wheels and through the track. The other end of the coil is connected to one pole of the battery d the opposite pole of 55 which is connected to a contact rail e. When points,.'.the train will not be admitted, said; track: contact being. arranged so as to: be zsweptby :a.

this rail is temporarily connected to earth throughjcontactson the track, the brake circuit will'be closed and thebrake applied.

One-such track contact a, provided with contactrings 7c, is arranged at the approach to the station, and it isconnected through a wirem to a'switch lever 4 located in the control room C of the station. The switch points b, In and b2 whereby the different tracks are brought into use, are each" operated by means of a lever p arranged asillustrated in Fig. 3. The lever carriels an electric contact 3 which is permanently connectedto earth and which sweeps two stationary contacts I and 2 as it is moved from one end position into the other. 'In each end position of the lever one of the stationary contacts remains connected through the contact 3 to earth, the other being disconnected. Thus inthe position shown by full lines in Fig. 3, the

contact! is connected to earth. When the lever is moved into the position shown by dotted lines, thecontact I will be disconnected, and the contact :2 willbe connected to earth. I v

:The levers p are located ina signal box D. The lever which operates the first switch point I; has its contact [connected by means of a wire ii to awire m3,- and its contact 2 is connected towiretg. to the wire m. The second lever, which operates the point In, has its contact I connected to a wire m1, while the contact 2 is connected to a wire m2. Both of these latter wires terminate in control contacts arranged in the room C, so that either of them can be connected to the wire m by means of the switch lever 4. The lever p which controls the point b2 connects a contact t3 with the wire on when the point is operated for admitting a truck or wagon on to the track A4.

Where the trains stop inside the station there are track contacts am, am, and am, one for each of the tracks A3, A2 and A1 respectively. The contact 0/03 is connected to the Wire 1113, and the contacts am and am are connected to contacts i2 and i1 respectively in the control room C where a switch .21 is provided for connecting either track contact to earth. The same switch is used for earthing a wire as which leads to the neighboring station at the right. Additional track contacts 02 and 01 inside the station are connected to the wires m2 and mi respectively. These additional track contacts are earthed by a train which is stationary inside the station.

A wire as which, like the wire m3, leads to the neighboring station at the left, leads in the control room C to a switch by means of which either of these wires may be connected to earth.

The principal track contact a has also an earthing circuit 12 which is closed by the semaphore signal B when the latter is on stop.

In the diagram of Fig. 1, the arrangement is such that an incoming train will be free to' enter the station track A2. If any re-arrangement should be made, the brake circuit of the train will be earthed and closed through the track contact a. Such earthing will-take place through the signal B if the latter should be on ;stop. If the point D should be in the wrong position, the wire 152 will be connected to earth through the lever p, and the brake circuit will thus be earthed and closed through the latter wire and through the wire m. If the point b1 should be in-the wrong position, the wire 1112 will be earthed through the contact 2 of the respective lever p, and the brake circuit will be closed through said wire, lever 4,

wire m and contact a. When the train arrives on the track A2 in the station, it engages the track contact 02 and thus earths the contact a through the wire mz,' 1ever 4 and wire m, and if another train should arrive, it will be stopped at the contact a. However, this train may be admitted on to the track A1 if the point In is reversed and if the lever 4 is connected to the wire m1 instead of ma. When-both trains are in the station they will be protected from further incoming trains, since the contact a is then earthed through the wire m, lever 4, wire m1 and contact 2 of the respective point operating lever p. Normally the contact a and the wire m are earthed by the lever 4 at 2 so that no trains can enter the station.

For a train to leave the station in the direction to the left by way of the track A3, the contact avs must be disconnected from earth in the control room C. However, the contact can may also be earthed from the neighboring station through the wire ms, in which case the train can only leave after it has been freed by the official in the latter station. In the same manner, a train ready to leave the neighboring station, can be detained by the official in the room C by the earthing of the wire as. For a train to leave the station towards the right the respective track contact 11122 or am must be disconnected from earth. This is efiected by means of the switch lever 21 which at the same time connects the wire as to earth so as to prevent a train from leaving the neighboring station in the opposite direction.

Where there is a bridge or where floods are likely to occur, contacts may be arranged which in case of a flood or the collapse of the bridge, earths the wires m3 and s and thus prevents a train from leaving the station.

A similar arrangement to that shown in Fig. 1 is provided at the right-hand side of the station.

-When the station is provided with an automatic signalling system for incoming trains, this system may be brought into use as shown in Fig. 4. The signalling wire 8 leads to a magnet 6 in the control room C. A switch lever 1, which is operated by the magnet, earths the wire m and the track contact a through a contact when the signal is operated, and thus no train can enter the station while the signal is on.

We claim:

1. In an automatic train controlling system, the combination with the switchpoint operating levers of a railway station .of a pair of electric point contacts for each lever, means on the lever for connecting said point contactsalternately to earth when the lever is reversed, an electric brake circuit on the train permanentlyconnected to earth and including a contact rail, an outside track contact at .the approach to the station and a track contact on each track inside the station all adapted to be swept by said contact rail, a group of control contacts, wires connecting individual control contacts with individual point contacts, means for connecting the track contacts in the station to earth and to control contacts of neighboring stations, means for connecting the outside track contact to difierent point contacts and to earth through the different control contacts, additional track contacts in the station adapted to contact with and to be earthed by the train, and means for connecting said additional track contacts through the control contacts to the outside track contact as a protection for the train while it remains in the station.

2. The automatic train signalling system claimed in claim 1 in combination with an earthing circuit for the outside track contact, and a semaphore signal adapted to close said earthing circuit when the signal is on stop.

ALOIS STECKER. I FRANK SECK'AR. 

